Guidelines for High School Students to Avoid Cyberethics Issues - Suzanne Stafford (Group Leader)
Technology is being integrated more frequently into the high school classroom as 21st Century Skills are becoming more necessary for students to be college and career ready. However, with greater use of technology comes greater risk of misuse of technology. Microsoft’s Safety and Security Center lists several guidelines for how to safely practice cyberethics (n.d.). All teachers and students should review these guidelines to ensure that they are practicing safe and appropriate behavior with their technology use. #'DO' use the Internet and Google’s G-Suite to interact with your teachers and classmates. The internet and Google G-Suite make it easy to stay in communication for group projects, talk to a teacher about a class, or discuss college recommendations with your guidance counselor. #'DO NOT' cyberbully. Just because the Internet allows for anonymous postings does not mean you should use it recklessly. All Internet based communication and postings should be considerate and respectful and keep the audience in mind. You should not post anything that you would not say directly to someone’s face. You should not post anything that could is or could be interpreted as a threat. #'DO' report cyberbullying. Your school’s guidance department or administration department will have a specific set of guidelines for reporting bullying (including cyberbullying) and you should never hesitate to contact them if you suspect any unethical behavior. You should keep records of any inappropriate Internet behavior to help support your claim to your school. Bullying is never okay, in any form, always speak up for yourself or others. #'DO NOT' encourage cyberbullies. Even if you are not directly involved in the bullying, it does not make it okay. It is your job as a good school citizen to report/discourage any inappropriate Internet behavior. Also, do not respond to a cyberbully online. Simply report the cyberbully to a teacher, counselor, or administrator in your building. #'DO' use the Internet for research and information. The Internet is slowly replacing typical paper libraries and is a wonderful resource for information for research papers, lab reports, etc. Your school most likely subscribes to a research database which will help you locate peer-reviewed journal articles as well as reference books and information. #'DO NOT' use researched information as your own. The information that you found through researching the Internet is not your own and therefore should not be submitted for grading as your own. Always present information following the citation guidelines set by your teacher. If you do not do this, you run the risk of your work being viewed as plagiarized and you receiving consequences for academic dishonesty. #'DO NOT' download or share copyrighted information. If you download and then use or distribute anything from the internet without explicit permission from the owner, you are stealing. This is no different than walking into a grocery store and stealing a candy bar. Both are seen the same way in the eyes of the law. #'DO NOT' share personal information with just anyone. The Internet has many appropriate resources that will need your personal information; College Board, Naviance, etc., however you need to be cautious that you are only sharing your information with appropriate sources. Giving your information to the unethical or unsecure websites can open you up to online criminals and cyberbullies. You can look for the URL to start with an “s” (https) which indicates the website is secure or you can request to see a copy of the websites security certificate. If a website does not have either of these things it is safest to avoid them. #'DO NOT' lie. Remember that you should treat anything you post or state on the internet the same as something you would say in real life. You must be honest and appropriate at all times. References: Practice cyberethics. In Microsoft safety and security center. Retrieved from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/safety/online-privacy/cyberethics-practice.aspx Return to Home Page